


Aerofoil Instability

by antigrav_vector



Series: Supersonic [6]
Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Aunt Peggy Carter, BAMF Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier are different people, CA:CW Fix-It, Fix-It, James comes out to the media, Kinda, Lots of Tony Feels, M/M, Peggy Carter Lives, Protective Tony Stark, Relationship Negotiation, Self-cest, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony POV, Tony Stark & James Rhodes Friendship, Tony Stark & Virginia Potts friendship, and both are head over heels for Tony, post-AoU, pre-threesome - M/M/M, recovered Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-10-18 12:35:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20639267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Pepper and Tony have a plan to force Ross to back off, and they're fairly confident that it'll work, but even if it does, then they'll have to get to work convincing the UN Security Council to accept their counterproposal. Meanwhile, James' media debut is drawing nearer and nearer, meaning that preparations for that will also be kicking in, as well, just to make their lives a little busier.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted with thanks to my beta readers [betheflame](https://twitter.com/betheflame1) and [Lunatical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatical/).
> 
> ETA: I don't normally retitle things, but the original one never quite felt right to me, and I've finally decided on one I like better. Apologies for any confusion.

Pepper looked almost too pleased with the situation at hand, and that was simultaneously making Tony wish they had never broken up so that he could tumble her into the nearest bed, and making him uncomfortably aware that he was unlikely to ever be in a position to act on that urge again. 

"Simmons said we have the go ahead to activate the termination clauses on several of Stark Industries' active contracts, if we have to," she informed him cheerfully. "The Army won't like that prospect at all. Of course, that'll be a last resort tactic, but it's good to know that we have that ace up our sleeves."

"Yeah, let's not do anything we can't take back unless we have to," Tony said, and nodded, shoving the longing he felt back into a box. "Also in the category of 'we'd rather not do it but we will if we have to,' I could fund SI for six months to a year out of my own pocket."

Pepper's pleased expression intensified some more. "Oh, that's a prefect trump card," she said, and Tony watched her file that tidbit away for later. "It'll make it excruciatingly clear that we mean business."

The press release would be going out tomorrow, because it would be a Friday, late enough in the afternoon that they could ride off into the weekend and use that time to plan their replies to their opponents' reactions, rather than field calls or do interviews. Pepper would be taking the lead on that, as CEO, and he'd be there as her backup.

They'd schedule a press conference for Monday afternoon or early Tuesday, if one became necessary.

Bucky had offered to play escort to James for that event, should it happen, so that they could take him backstage where he could get a feel for the atmosphere without being thrown in at the deep end of the pool and put in front of the mics and cameras. James had vetoed that plan instantly, though, looking intensely uncomfortable. 

"You're thinking about James again, aren't you?" Pepper asked, with a knowing look on her face.

Tony didn't bother denying it. "A press conference we'd be giving would be a good opportunity to get him acclimated a little."

Pepper shook her head, smiling fondly at him. "It would," she agreed, "but he doesn't feel ready. There'll be other opportunities, and probably soon."

"Don't remind me," Tony muttered. "The UN Initiative thing and Avengers Charter will have to be our next public announcement."

"Probably, but we might have to do another one about this Ross issue before we start working on that media fire." His CEO sighed, a little of her glee fading. "I wish he'd grow enough balls to admit he was wrong and he failed, and just stop making trouble."

Tony laughed, hearing the bitterness in it. "He'd also need enough brains to realise he won't win," he pointed out. 

"Not many people as can keep up with ya, sweetheart," Bucky commented as he swept into the room and flopped down on the sofa next to Tony, pulling him close to cuddle him. "Who's bein' thick?"

Tony allowed the touch, relaxing into his boyfriend's arms and watching Pepper's expression go soft. "Ross."

"Thought we had our plan to deal with his schemes more or less hashed out," Bucky said.

"We do," Pepper answered. "It's just a matter of setting things in motion, now. The press release is set to be sent out tomorrow afternoon, and we should have the desired results by Monday, if all goes well."

Bucky grinned. "Can't wait to see it unfold. This couldn't happen to a more deserving person."

Laughing indulgently, Pepper nodded. "Me neither."

They passed another half hour just talking about unimportant things, until James joined them for dinner, and then went their separate ways after they'd eaten. 

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and Tony found himself getting very willingly pulled into his bed and lovingly wrecked. Bucky very strategically made sure he was so wrung out he didn't have the energy to do more than let Bucky clean him up afterwards, and Tony was kind of grateful for that. It meant he didn't end up worrying himself into staying awake all night.

The next morning, for once, Tony woke first. Bucky was doing a great impression of an octopus, as usual, but his grip was lax and he was snoring just loudly enough for Tony to make it out.

Tony took the opportunity to just watch his boyfriend. The difference that seeing Bucky asleep made was interesting. Most people were somehow softer asleep than they were awake, but Bucky took it a step further, simple softness shading into a faint smirk and a hint of possessiveness. 

"I said _no syrup_," Bucky muttered, apropos of nothing, before relaxing back into sleep. 

Tony bit his lip to stifle his laughter, because, come on. Was Bucky dreaming about pancakes? Really?

With a gesture, he requested a holo-interface from FRIDAY and placed an appropriately large order for pancakes, to be delivered in an hour.

His AI would let James and Peggy know about the move, and he was sure James wouldn't mind. If Bucky did, that’d be okay; Tony would eat both their shares now that he was craving some.

When Bucky's eyes opened about twenty minutes later, he stretched and scrunched up his nose adorably. "You're up early," he commented.

"Happens sometimes," Tony answered, unconcerned. "I ordered pancakes."

"Pancakes?" Bucky looked amused. "You get a craving for blueberries or somethin'?"

Tony smirked back. "No, you did. Muttering about syrup in your sleep."

"Hah! Breakfast ain't what I was dreaming about, but sure, I like pancakes."

Tony eyed his boyfriend, curious, but the way Bucky was grinning at him like a man with nothing to lose suggested that whatever he’d been dreaming about was something that would mean not leaving the bedroom for at least another hour and leave them both -- and the sheets -- incredibly sticky.

It was tempting to follow through on that dare, but it would mean they'd get no pancakes, and that was just unacceptable.

"We can try that later," Tony said, and watched his boyfriend pout at him, the expression patently exaggerated.

"You really want those pancakes, huh?" Bucky teased him, dropping the pout and giving him a fond look instead. 

Rather than answer, Tony shrugged and started untangling himself from Bucky's hold.

His boyfriend let him go and got to his feet, hiding a yawn behind his hand. "What's on the docket for today?"

"The important thing is the press release at the end of the day," Tony said, "I want to watch the chaos as it happens. But the PR team will make sure the word gets out for us. That spark'll fly without any further input from either of us. Until then, I ought to spend some time reading through the new charter and other paperwork Simmons and his team have been working on. So should you, James, and Peggy, if you're at all interested in working with the team. It's not a thing we've talked about until now, but I know Steve would love it if any of you decided in favour."

Bucky raised an eyebrow at him. "You're very articulate today, considerin' you ain't had coffee yet. Just how long've you been awake?"

That was dodging the question, but Tony knew him well enough by now to know that meant Bucky wanted to think over his answer. "Not sure," he answered. "But coffee is at the top of my to do list."

Shaking his head, mock disappointed, Bucky tsked at him. "You could'a woken me up." 

Tony led the way out of the room. "I could," he acknowledged, "but this is okay too."

The remainder of the day was fairly calm, until about four PM, when FRIDAY interrupted them in their perusal of the new charter and -- in Tony's case -- the paperwork that would be submitted to the appropriate UN subcommittees the moment they could be sure Ross would back down. Which was assuming a lot, it had to be acknowledged, but Bucky was slowly training him to be more optimistic.

"Boss? Ye said ye wanted to see the press release go out."

Tony looked up and FRIDAY promptly turned on CNN. The feed started just in time for the unfamiliar female news anchor on screen to interrupt herself with a surprised expression on her face. Pepper had probably timed the announcement specifically so that it wasn't Wolf, or Cooper, thank god. Both of them made Tony want to scream with the stilted way they talked. 

He paid no attention to the anchor's words, instead opening his Twitter and retweeting the official SI press release, just to watch the internet go berserk.

It didn't take long for it to start trending. Entirely unsurprisingly, while a majority of people were responding in support of their move, there was also a sizable minority that were foaming at the mouth and basically calling him a traitor to the United States, among other much ruder names. 

FRIDAY automatically hunted down their personal information and forwarded it, along with the relevant tweets, to Tony's lawyers. Anyone who really stepped too far over the line would get slapped for libel or slander, as the case might be. Or whatever else was appropriate.

"I know ya said it would get crazy," Bucky commented, reading over his shoulder, "but wow. These people really don't like you much, do they?"

"They're the same people who were angry that SI stopped making weapons," Tony said with a shrug and gave his boyfriend a crooked smile. "They say shit like that anyway, not just when we put out press releases."

Bucky made a skeptical sound, but didn't comment. Instead, he stepped up behind Tony, his arms going around Tony's waist so that he could lace his fingers together over Tony's belly, and tucked himself against Tony's back, his chin hooked comfortably over Tony's shoulder.

Tony's hand drifted up to cover Bucky's without his conscious say-so, and he couldn't seem to quite stop his expression from going fond. "It's not fun, but I'm used to it. You know that saying about not being able to please everyone? That goes double or maybe triple for someone like me."

"That don't mean I gotta like it," Bucky muttered. 

"You're too good for me," Tony told him, "but I don't care. I'm keeping you anyways."

"Keepin' me, are ya?" Bucky repeated, sounding amused now. "Not sure as I like the idea of bein' a kept man. Maybe I should join your crazy team. Get myself a job I won't hate."

"The paycheck isn't worth the kinds of things you'd be expected to do." Tony turned enough to drop a kiss on his boyfriend's cheekbone. "If you want a job, we can find you a job."

"You're forgettin' that I was part of the Howlin' Commandos, sweetheart. We were already doin' crazy shit for a small paycheck in the '40s," Bucky pointed out with a hint of laughter in his voice. 

Tony was suddenly struck with the thought that that must've been a sight to see, and wondered what they'd have thought of the Avengers. He'd known most of the Commandos as a kid, but that had been way before Iron Man, or even his tenure as SI's CEO. They'd all lived long, full lives, and many had ended up with wives and kids, but only Peggy had made it past the 1990s. 

What would his life have become if he'd ended up with one of the other Howlies rather than Bucky, when he'd played with that mysterious time travel gadget? Dugan, maybe. Or Dernier?

"Tony," Bucky broke into his suddenly melancholy thoughts, "what're ya worryin' about, now?"

"Nothing worth discussing. My thoughts running away with me," Tony reassured him.

Bucky gave him a skeptical look but accepted his silence. "Let's go sit in the media room and finish reading these papers, then," he suggested. "I c'n cuddle ya, an' you can explain the legalese to me."

"Square deal," Tony agreed, letting Bucky steer him out of the room and into the elevator to the common floor. "Breakfast first, though, or James will eat it all."


	2. Chapter 2

**For Immediate Release**  
Name of Press Contact: Bambi Arbogast

Date: March 3, 2017  
Phone: (212) 308-6325  
Email: bambi.arbogast@stark.com

**Stark Industries Pushes Back**  
\- Secretary of State Ross attempts to gain control of Iron Man once again  
\- CEO Virginia Potts and owner Tony Stark fight back: "That's not legal, Sir."

**New York, New York** \- In a move designed to place Iron Man under his authority, Secretary of State Ross has attempted to take control of the Iron Man armor once more by means of an illegal contract that he attempted to coerce Mr. Stark into signing. This puts Stark Industries in a very difficult position; we must make a choice between our loyalty to our founding family and owner, and the country which we lovingly serve. Thus, we are notifying the US Armed Forces branches and governmental agencies with whom we have contracts, that this move on the part of the Secretary forces us to very strongly consider activating the termination clauses on those contracts. Our owner and CTO has stated his willingness to fund the company out of his own pocket, if necessary, to bridge the gap until new contracts can be negotiated. 

"I wish it hadn't come to this, but I feel we cannot maintain our integrity as a company committed to progress -- technological and social -- if we allow our owner and CTO to be coerced into swearing allegiance to a commander whose goals he does not feel align with our company's," CEO Virginia Potts commented, when asked about the move. 

Many will likely feel that Stark Industries' leadership has made a very harsh decision in pursuing this option, however, it is not yet finalised. Before terminating any contracts, Stark Industries is, of course, willing to discuss and negotiate terms, and we will not be rushed into any decisions that cannot be undone, but we stand behind Mr. Stark and his decision to take the company in a direction that is not based on violence of any kind. Any attempt on the part of the Secretary of State to coerce Mr. Stark goes contrary to this philosophy.

"It's far from the first time that the US Government or the Armed Forces have attempted to take control of a privately owned piece of technology," Mr. Stark stated. "This one just happened to step way over the line of what we felt was tolerable. Secretary of State Ross personally came into my home to deliver a stack of legalese that he hoped would put me and the Iron Man armor under his direct control. My lawyers determined that what he wanted wasn't legal, so we decided to take steps of our own."

In the coming weeks, an announcement will be made regarding the future of Iron Man as a founding member of the Avengers and our contracts. It is our hope that the issue can be resolved peaceably and without unneeded economic upheaval.

Stark Industries has spent decades at the forefront of the weapons industry, revolutionising the equipment our soldiers carry into battle again and again. In our new direction, we are committed to bringing affordable and sustainable energy to the people of the world. Our patented Arc Reactor technology already fuels Iron Man, Stark Tower, and will soon fuel much more of the world, as well. Having pursued a policy of non-violent innovation for the past nine years, our employees around the world are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and leaving the world better than we found it.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the weekend, for Bucky's birthday Tony decided to take his boyfriend out on the town. That was pretty much the only break he would get for the next week, though, and they both knew it.

First thing Monday morning, they had their response, and Tony could hear Ross gnashing his teeth all the way down in Washington DC.

A press release had gone out from Ross' office, very clearly in response to theirs and not written by Ross himself, that contained the predictable denial that he'd done anything illegal and a promise to look into the matter before requiring any signatures of anything.

Pepper had fielded panicked calls from their largest contract holders all morning, reassuring them that as long as Ross backed off and made no further such attempts to take control of Iron Man they weren't going to invoke any termination clauses. 

Tony found himself feeling oddly unsatisfied, despite getting what he wanted. They'd spiked Ross' wheels for the foreseeable future with their move, but only where the armour was concerned. The team wasn't safe yet.

They'd need to keep the pressure on and submit their proposal to the UN if they wanted to make that a reality. 

"Tony? Sweetheart? Is somethin' wrong?" Bucky prodded at him verbally, and Tony realised he'd just spent the last however long standing in front of his design interface with his hands raised to do something, without doing it.

Making a face, he shrugged. "Trying to plan our next steps."

"I thought you were working on your armour."

"That too," Tony agreed, and sighed. "But we're going to have to move quickly if we want to keep the rest of the team off Ross' leash. He's backed off of them as well, for now, but he won't wait long before he tries again. He won't come after me first. They're the easier target by far, now that he knows I'm willing to put pressure on him economically as well as politically."

Bucky caught his eyes. "Simmons is already on it, I thought."

"He is," Tony agreed, "but we both know how stubborn Steve can be, and the way he reacted to hearing about the idea of a charter and UN oversight has me thinking he'll try to dig in his heels again."

"Peg and I'll keep him straightened out," Bucky promptly promised. "An' besides. He said he'd work on thinking your plans through more."

That was news to Tony. He gave his boyfriend a sardonic look. "How's that working out?"

Bucky grinned and shrugged back at him. "Steve's never really dealt with politics before in his life. It's a new arena an' he's still learning its ropes. He knows he don't know everythin' an' he hates that. Hates that it's so weird and different. Nothin' works the way he thinks it should, an' then you come along an' make it look easy."

Tony laughed, knowing he sounded a little bitter. "I've been doing it since I was four," he pointed out, "and I'm a genius. It _is_ easy."

"Exactly," Bucky agreed. "Now, leave that worrying to Simmons, until he reports back with a problem. He's competent. Gotta be, if you're happy with his work. He'll work his magic with the UN, get paid an obscene amount o' money for it, an' then Ross won't be able to touch a one of us."

"You're very optimistic," Tony grumbled.

"An' you're constantly convinced everythin' that can go wrong, will. We balance each other out," Bucky told him as though it was obvious.

"I guess you're not wrong," Tony muttered, and then went back to his suit upgrades. "We've still got to get James' situation taken care of, though."

Bucky nodded. "He said he'd think it over, so let him. He needs ta get used to the idea first. It took Steve a while to get used ta being in the public eye after he got woken up from his seventy year nap. It'll be so much tougher for James, what with the shit he was forced to do, even with your protection."

And Bucky was right, that was the worst part of his statement. Tony ran his hands through his hair. "If I could make the internet stop being horrible, I would."

"Yup, an' he knows that. Why d'ya think he's so protective of ya, sweetheart? You took him in and gave him a home, despite what HYDRA made him do to ya. Ya c'n bet that's worth more to him than anything else in this world right now. An' probably for a damned long time to come."

Shaking his head, Tony scoffed. "It so happens I know a little something about coercion and second chances."

"Don't we all." Bucky stood and walked over to him, stealing a mostly chaste kiss. "I'm gonna go find him and Peggy an' find out what they want for lunch. You want in?"

Tony eyed the upgrades he was making no progress on and decided he wanted the facetime with his friends more. He was only dealing with nonessential tweaks, anyway. "Sure."

The next two days or so went by without too much fanfare. Tony found himself occupied with the usual mix of SI and Avengers business, including a call-out to the wilds of Oklahoma to help with natural disaster clean-up in the wake of a string of tornadoes. The rest of the team went with him, and even Rhodey showed up for a while so that the Air Force could get in on the good PR. 

And then James went and caught him flat footed. "Tony?" He asked at dinner, just hours after the team had gotten back from Oklahoma, carefully waiting until Rhodey and Carol and Pepper had all left the common floor. "Your new charter says that, besides dealing with the world ending, you'd be going after terrorist groups that threaten political stability."

Tony nodded. "Simmons knows I have something of a very personal grudge against them."

James nodded. He knew the story behind Afghanistan. "Does that include HYDRA?" He pursued the point. 

"Definitely does," Tony quipped. "I've got a bone to pick with them, too."

Bucky raised an eyebrow at his double. "Is this goin' where I think it is?"

Peggy looked very pleased. "James, are you suggesting that you're considering joining the Avengers?"

"I've got my own bone to pick with HYDRA, and the team is a legal means with which to do it," James said simply, indirectly copping to the fact that Peggy's guess was accurate.

Tony scrubbed at his face. "Guess that means going public sooner rather than later," he put in. "I'll let Mrs. Arbogast know she might need to take point on that little news bombshell."

Bucky grinned. He'd met her before in passing and knew just how good she was at her job. James said nothing, but Tony could see the slight tightening of his shoulders. "Not yet," he muttered.

"Okay, but soon," Tony said firmly. 

"Soon," James conceded, sounding like he still wanted to do anything but go public, but knew he couldn't avoid it.

"FRIDAY? Remind me to send Xavier an email or something. I'm not gonna invite him here before James is ready, but I'd better let him know we'll need his input."

"Will do, Boss. Shall I draft ye that email?" She answered, and James scowled. 

Tony ignored him for the moment. "Go for it. I'll read it before I send it."

Luckily for Tony, Peggy picked that moment to change the topic. "Has Steve bothered to let you know that he's fine with the new charter and willing to grudgingly accept the UN committee?"

Tony shook his head. "No, he hasn't. Not that I'm too surprised."

"Hmph. He's still in a bit of a huff, is he?" Peggy said with a knowing glint in her eyes. 

"He ain't never liked having a committee tellin' him what to do," Bucky pointed out.

"It's better than the alternatives," James grumbled. "But he always was an idiot when it came to politics. Blue-eyed idealist."

Peggy shrugged, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "He's got to work that out for himself, like everything else. Stubborn man."

With a sigh, Tony stretched then sat up a bit straighter. "As long as he does it on his own time, I don't care," he decided. "I've got to deal with convincing the UN that having Ross control the team would be a bad plan."

"I thought Simmons said you wouldn't be needed to talk to people for another few days," James said, disguising his question as a statement. 

"Day after tomorrow," Tony agreed, "but it helps to plan those things out."

"Thankfully, Ross' track record practically speaks for itself," Peggy quipped, her lips thinning. "What a pompous ass."

"Well, whether or not it speaks for itself will depend on who's listening. The US still has a lot of influence over the Security Committee, in that they have veto power[1], so we have to hope whoever's there is either not in Ross' pocket or willing to be bought out of it," Tony disagreed. 

"We'll see what Simmons has to say about it," Bucky put in firmly. "For now, we wait."

Giving in with a nod, Tony let himself lean against his boyfriend as they finished the last bites of their meal. It had been tasty, as it always was when they ordered from the noodle place in the Tower, but for the life of him, Tony couldn't remember tasting what he'd eaten. He'd been too distracted.

"For now we can't do much else," he agreed, and let Bucky pull him in possessively close. "But, James, you need to give me some advance warning when you're feeling ready to announce your presence here. It'll be best if we do it before the UN committee is a finalized thing."

"Alright," he accepted that, then added, "I'd rather not deal with the chaos at all."

"Of course not," Peggy agreed. "But it'll be worth it in the end. You'll be safer and able to join the team on missions if you choose. Simmons made sure there was a clause in the charter to allow individual members to refuse missions, as well as for compensation if you're ever injured in the line of duty."

James grumbled something indistinct about the media and aggressive assholes, but nodded.

The conversation dried up, there, and Tony was fine with letting it die. He'd been worrying about this same topic for almost three weeks already and was getting heartily sick of it. And he suspected the others were, too.

That evening and the next day passed uneventfully. To Tony's amazement, so did his appearance in front of the UN with Steve -- despite Steve's lingering distrust of committees in general.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] For more detailed info, here's a [link to wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council).


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I'm super super late with this chapter, sorry guys. IRL decided to kick my butt on the weekend and then didn't really let up until today. The next one will go live tomorrow, as planned.

The drive from the Tower down to the United Nations Headquarters a few blocks away wasn't long, as far as distances were concerned, but it took time to move around Manhattan in a car regardless of the time of day. Steve had initially wanted to just hop on the subway, until Tony had put his foot down. Sure, they could do that -- or Steve could, Tony absolutely refused to -- but the impression that would make wasn't ideal.

"I still don't see why it's so important that we show up in your ridiculous limo," Steve muttered as they pulled out of the Tower's garage.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Because, Rogers, showing up on foot is one thing, but you can bet we'll be photographed doing it. This is just as important as whatever we might say."

Steve crossed his arms, then lowered them to his sides again, remembering Peggy's admonitions not to wrinkle his suit immediately. "I very much doubt that."

Tony took a deep breath and reminded himself that Steve had only barely dipped his toes in these waters. "You know that saying about first impressions?"

Steve gave him a look that said he thought Tony was treating him like an idiot. "Yeah."

To be fair, he was, a little, but Tony wanted his reasoning to be as excruciatingly clear as he could make it, so they didn't have to have this discussion again. "Well, you have to remember that you're not just making a first impression on the guys on the council. You're making it on the entirety of the internet and the news media. Every time you leave the Tower or the compound."

That got him another skeptical look. Tony shrugged, then went on. "You think I'm kidding."

"I think you're exaggerating," Steve corrected him. 

Laughing at Steve's naïveté, he asked, "Remember the reading Coulson gave you on me?"

Steve visibly had to take a moment to think back, and Tony saw the moment when he got it. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh. That's why we're in the limo." Tony firmly drove the final nail into that coffin. "Now, it's time to get your game face on. We're nearly there. When we get out of the car we'll have to go through a security check, and then wait until we're called on."

Steve groaned. "Great. You know, this is just what I wanted to do today. Deal with bureaucrats that actually have some power."

That comment surprised a more genuinely amused laugh out of Tony and he nodded. "I know what you mean. These guys have a habit of needing to be more important than everyone else in the room."

It took them another half hour to get through security and take the floor, but then things smoothed out a bit.

Somewhat predictably, the rest of the Security Council felt it would be a good idea to make the Avengers essentially part of their peacekeeping force, and only the American delegate put up frequent objections. The other fourteen all saw an opportunity to "weaken" the US a little, and were inclined to accept the proposal Simmons' team had put together on that basis alone.

As Tony'd expected, it took a significant amount of arguing to make the American delegate see sense, and in the end it did end up being Ross' track record that turned the discussion in their favour. Tony'd had to work hard to swallow his relief.

Even after they'd achieved that much, though, the ordeal wasn't strictly over. The proposal hadn't been ratified yet. Merely accepted into the Agenda and subject to detailed discussion at a later date. The precise conditions of the Avengers' basis of operations would be subject to further discussion behind closed doors sometime in the next few days.

Tony had taken the opportunity to repeatedly stress that what had been placed before them had already effectively been ratified by the team, and changes might not be accepted easily -- particularly changes to their legal protections and their right to refuse assignments.

The moment he'd said that, Steve had agreed with him, openly and heavily implying that he'd be among the first to refuse major changes to those clauses. And that the rest of the team would follow his lead.

And then they'd been shown to the door so that the committee could go back to their deliberations on the rest of the day's agenda. They'd probably know the results in under a week, if the delegates did as Tony suspected they would and merely argued for the sake of arguing. If someone managed to come up with some actually actionable objection, it could still spell disaster for their plan.

But right there, exiting the UN Headquarters building after having successfully gotten their proposal onto the table, wasn't the time to worry about that. Tony led his team leader back out of the building, cutting off any attempts at conversion until they were back in the limo. To Steve's credit, Tony only had to give him a Look twice as they walked.

Say what else you would about the man, but he did learn quickly. 

The moment the door closed behind him, Steve settled into a seat and caught Tony's eye with a somewhat put out look on his face. "Well?" He demanded a little sourly. "Is this private enough for you?"

Tony nodded. "It'll do. But you know I really wasn't kidding about needing to not be overheard talking about anything to do with the proposal we presented today. We started trying to push it through the moment we got Ross to back off a little, so that kind of juicy gossip would immediately make headlines. If that happened, we could easily lose face with the Security Council and possibly lose our change to get what we want. As it stands, most -- if not all -- of the delegates there besides the American will almost certainly agree to our terms. They're fairly generous, all things considered, and everyone in there knows it, even if they'll protest. Even the American delegate will probably go along with it after he's protested hard enough. He knows about Ross' unfortunately very public fuck ups and what damage that man is likely to do to the US's image if he gets control of an international threat response team. Everything in this arena has to do with image. Not what's right or decent."

Growling imprecations too low for Tony to make out, Steve took a deep breath. "That's what bothers me. How can you stand it? I know you're better than that."

"Think back to what Coulson gave you to read," Tony told him again, a sardonic smile twisting his lips. "Remember what your reaction was to me?"

Abashed, Steve muttered, "I thought I apologized for that."

"Not where I was going with it," Tony cut him off before he could follow that track any further. "The point is, you saw the image the media had of me, and that Coulson bought into. Not the real me. Those guys? All they care about is that image. That's what the public sees. Not the back room deals or the infighting or the money changing hands."

"Then why do we even have the UN? It doesn't help much, the way you describe it."

"Sure, they do," Tony shot back without hesitation. "The UN is a forum that allows the nations of the world to hold one another accountable for their bullshit. To a large extent, anyway. They just don't have the power to change human nature. People, even those with the best of intentions, are imperfect corruptible beings."

"I'm surprised you didn't burst into flames, being so responsible and grown up," Steve told him, evidently done with the conversation and wanting to go back to their usual sniping.

Biting his tongue, Tony shrugged. "You buying into the image of me that the press is peddling, again?" He asked, as lightly as he could manage.

For once, Steve didn't rise to the bait, though. "No," he said instead, sounding a bit frustrated, "I know better than that now." Steve ran his hands through his hair, leaving it sticking up in places and destroying the carefully neat style he'd opted for that morning. "Damn it, why is it that we never learned how to talk to each other?"

Surprised by that question, Tony stared at him blankly for a beat before he answered. "I think," he said slowly, picking his words carefully, "it's because we're just too different."

"That's bullshit," Steve retorted. "I managed to work with a team where not everyone spoke English. For over a year. Successfully. During a war. But the two of us... I don't know."

"Divided by a common language?" Tony tried to joke.

"You might be right," Steve agreed, and Tony couldn't help burying his face in his hands.

"No, Steve, that -- that right there -- might be the problem. You still have no idea when I'm joking and when I'm serious."

Steve raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, yeah, they look almost the same from the outside. You've spent too much time talking to the press."

And damned if Steve didn't maybe have a point. A small one.

Luckily, the limo pulled back into the Tower's garage before Tony had to come up with an answer to that and he gratefully took advantage of the momentary respite. Once they were back in the elevator, he turned back to Steve and shrugged. "That's a part of me I can't exactly hit a switch and turn off, Steve. I've literally lived my whole life in front of cameras and tape recorders and that's left me with certain habits and reflexes. The moment you show any kind of weakness, there's blood in the water. Hell, often even if you don't."

That got him a nod and an expression that bordered on thoughtful. Steve didn't say anything further on the topic, though. The elevator doors opened on the common floor, and they stepped out, knowing that they were about to be interrogated to within an inch of their lives by Peggy and James. "C'mon, Tony, I need to eat something, and you probably should, too."

Bucky, sauntering out of the media room -- obviously drawn by their voices, or perhaps alerted to their return by FRIDAY -- agreed with Steve before Tony could defend himself. "He skimped on breakfast, this morning," he told Steve, who turned to Tony and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I had other things on my mind," Tony put in.

James picked that moment to appear, Peggy a half step behind him. "Eat and tell us how it went," he suggested pointedly.

Turning to the fridge and pulling out the fixings for sandwiches, Steve started talking, telling them about their arrival at the UN HQ -- apparently the somewhat old school metal detectors at the entrance to the building had made more of an impression on Steve than Tony'd thought they did -- and then about their speeches.

"Well, it was kind of strange at first," Steve told them. "We got there and despite being invited we had to jump through a bunch'a hoops to get in. They made us take all the metal out of our pockets and take our belts off, then we had to walk through this plastic scanner. I've never seen one like it before."

"Yeah, they used to be everywhere in the 90s and early 2000s," Tony put in, "before the new full-body scanners became a thing and replaced them in most high security areas.[2]"

"Anyway," Steve picked the thread right back up as he put a plate with a sandwich on it in front of Tony, "after we got in we had'ta wait a good twenty minutes before they bothered to let us in the room. Might'a been debating some other measure and took too long, but they had us cooling our heels either way."

James and Peggy listened intently as Steve handed out more sandwiches and started describing the scene as they pled their case, asking questions from time to time. Bucky spent the time spectating as the other two pried information out of Steve, and prodding at Tony to eat before he bit into his own sandwich.

It took them a good half hour to finish grilling Steve, but eventually the pair of them nodded, satisfied.

"It went well, then," Peggy decided.

"I could've told you that half an hour ago," Tony pointed out, bemused.

"But then they wouldn't have gotten to interrogate Steve," Bucky pointed out, making Steve and Peggy laugh. "Let them have their fun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_body_scanner


	5. Chapter 5

In the end, it took another ten days for them to get their answer from the Security Committee.

Both Steve and James chomped at the bit the whole time, impatiently asking first Tony and then -- once he got so tired of it that he snapped at them -- FRIDAY for updates what felt like every five minutes.

Bucky and Peggy spent a good amount of time laughing at the two of them for being so on edge.

Tony did his best to ignore the whole thing by burying himself in work, but he made sure to take the afternoon off once or twice, at Bucky's insistence. He'd been very focused on his armour and James' arm recently and needed to catch up on the stuff Pepper wanted from him before she came into his workshop to hunt him down and pry the paperwork (or whatever it was this week) out of him. 

And then, at last, they got their answer in possibly the least ceremonious way possible. It showed up in the form of some paperwork sent by courier and Tony had to sign for it in person.

He opened the envelope in the common floor kitchen, took one look at the contents, and made a face. "FRI, we need to scan this into the secure servers for the others to read and then get this copy to Simmons."

"Sure thing, Boss," his AI answered gamely. "I believe Mr. Simmons has been waiting for this document's arrival, himself."

"Just don't tell James or Steve about this just yet," he asked, and FRIDAY cleared her throat awkwardly. 

"Sorry, Boss, but they both asked me to tell them as soon as we got word."

Tony groaned. James was likely only holding back from charging into the room because Tony had snapped at him the last time the topic had come up.

"Fine," he decided. "Scan it and let James know how to access the electronic copy. You know the drill. No copies leave the server for any reason without my knowledge. Steve can come here if he has to read it for himself. Until we've had time to do the press release on this, it has to stay under wraps."

"Right, Boss," she agreed. "Mr. Simmons has said he can come by in about half an hour to pick up the physical copy."

That meant Simmons was only a little bit busy. He and his team had been doing little else for almost a month now, so it was no big surprise that he'd want to see the result himself. This had been his main focus, too, not just Tony's or Steve's.

He skimmed through the text of the document as he scanned it, not really spotting anything overly surprising until he got to the second to last page. He scanned it and the final page and let FRIDAY send it to James and an alert to Steve and then ran his hands through his hair.

"For fuck's sake," he muttered to himself as he read the page again in more detail, "we offered them a goddamn oversight committee. Why do we need an observer, too?"

Peggy strode into the room, momentarily distracting him from the stack of paper. "What's this about an observer?" She asked as she opened the fridge and took out a root beer.

There was no way she hadn't shown up just to get her own look at the documents he'd just been sent. She was just better at acting than James or Steve, Tony thought a bit sourly. "The Security Committee has, in their wisdom, decided that they'll accept the terms we offered, provided that we accept theirs: they want to place an 'impartial' observer with the team, to spend time here and at the Compound."

Peggy pursed her lips. "That sounds like a fancy way of saying they want to put a spy in our ranks."

"Exactly," Tony said with a sigh. "It's a fairly small price to pay, considering the possible alternatives we were faced with, but I don't like it."

"Nor do I," Peggy agreed. "Who is to be this new spy?"

"The crown prince of Wakanda, of all people. Apparently he's been making quite a name for himself in similar positions, and was happy to volunteer his services for this one." Tony knew his voice had gone a bit edged and sarcastic, but couldn't find it in him to care.

Peggy just nodded. "When is he coming here?"

"That's dependent on whether Steve can accept this observer or whether we have to try to find some way to fight it," Tony answered. "Not that I hold out much hope of that. Given that the Security Committee has made its decision, and that they have the authority to enforce international rulings, we’re pretty much out of luck if we try to fight this decision on the basis of US law."

"And if Steve does accept it?" She persisted.

"Then we'll probably hear from our new spy directly about the matter. Judging by his reputation, he won't simply show up on our doorstep and expect a five star hotel, at the drop of a hat."

Peggy gave him a half smile. "You could provide that, here, if you wanted, but not at the Compound," she agreed with a nod. "You think he'll give us time to prepare, then?"

"Boss," FRIDAY interrupted, "Mr. Simmons is on his way up. James and Bucky are with him."

Peggy outright laughed at the face he made.

"Alright," Tony answered, gathering up what he could of his composure and knowing he would need it for the discussion that was about to take place, "we'll finish this conversation later, Peggy."

"The others likely will want to know the same," she offered, trying to comfort him a little with that thought.

Tony wasn't sure it worked. The elevator doors slid open before he could decide. 

"See," Bucky said, sounding pleased, "I told ya Peggy'd be here."

James nodded. "You did."

Simmons had a long-suffering expression on his face, and Peggy moved to try to ease it. "Those two haven't been bothering you, I hope," she said.

"I've spent years working with Mr. Stark," Simmons told her with a wry smile, "a bit of reasonably gentle nagging is far from the worst I've seen."

James drew himself up. "We haven't been nagging," he protested with a pout that was eerily identical to Bucky's.

Tony had to rub at his eyes. "Yeah, you have, but now we have the answer you wanted so badly."

"So what'd they have to say?" Bucky demanded, reaching for the stack of pages Tony still held.

Tony pulled them out of Bucky's reach, getting his boyfriend to pout, that time, and handed the hard copy off to Simmons instead. "They're willing to accept our terms as long as we let them send an observer to live with the team, which means he'll be here part of the time and at the Compound for the rest."

Simmons made a slightly aggravated sound. "Then it all depends on what Captain Rogers' reaction is, I'd wager."

"That's about the sum of it," Peggy agreed, and Bucky nodded.

His boyfriend made a face. "That stubborn idiot wouldn't know a pragmatic approach if it bit him in the ass."

"Probably not," James grumbled. "So who is this observer and what is he going to be observing?"

"The crown prince of Wakanda, apparently," Peggy told him. "We don't know much more than that."

"His reputation is impeccable," Simmons noted. "Everyone who's ever worked with him has described him as pretty much the most polite and respectful man they've ever met."

Tony made a skeptical face. "Sounds too good to be true."

"It might be," Peggy agreed, "but give him a chance. You mentioned the Wakandans as your first choice, when we talked about that UN oversight committee."

Bucky and James exchanged a look, and then his boyfriend turned to him. "Tony," he asked, "what's this mean for the rest of our plans? If that prince's gonna be spendin' part'a his time here, he'll meet James eventually, even if we try ta hide 'im."

James made a face. "If I don't want someone to know I'm around, they won't," he put in, "but doing that for long periods of time is tiring and risky."

Simmons made an amused sound. "Something tells me there is more to James than I've been told about until now. Mr. Stark?"

Well, now there was nothing for it. Tony pinched at the bridge of his nose briefly, then answered. "How much history do you know, Mr. Simmons?"

"Mostly what has to do with law, as you well know," the lawyer replied dryly, "but I'm familiar with the big events."

"Right, well, you know that Steve was around for the second World War and had a team of commandos, then, right?" Tony asked rhetorically, and got a nod. "Well, Bucky, here, was part of that team, and so was Peggy."

That made Simmons blink, take another close look at Bucky's face, then turn to stare at Tony. "You're telling me that your boyfriend, who you claimed got yanked forward out of the 40s without providing any kind of proof, was one of the Howling Commandos."

Bucky shrugged. "I was. If ya need proof, I can give ya details about a coupl'a our missions."

"Most of those are still classified, Bucky," Tony reminded him.

"That's what makes them good proof," Bucky argued.

James rolled his eyes at them. "Get to the point," he put in, "or your lawyer friend there will implode out of sheer curiosity."

Peggy chuckled at their antics. "Mr. Simmons," she said in her usually impeccable, unruffled way, "I realise it's tough to believe, but it _is_ the truth. But that's far from the darkest part of the story or even the most unbelievable."

With an almost silent sigh, Tony added, "James was captured and held by HYDRA and coerced into committing a number of murders on their behalf."

"Wasn't there a rumour about someone like that after the Captain went to Washington DC and set half the capital on fire?" Simmons asked, speaking slowly.

"That was me," James confirmed, looking tormented and making Tony ache to make the expression vanish again.

"You're claiming to be the Winter Soldier?" Simmons gave him a once over, shock writ large on his face.

"Used to be," Tony put in firmly. "You're not that man anymore."

The words got a slight pained sound out of James, but he didn't speak.

"And before you ask what any of this has to do with anything," Tony went on, speaking to his lawyer, that time, "I want you to consider what might happen if that Wakandan prince found him here. As things stand right now, we've got no defense against that, and I'm not about to let anyone tear one of my friends away from me."

"How do you get yourself into these situations, Mr. Stark?" Simmons shook his head in disbelief.

Peggy snorted. "He's got a talent for it, doesn't he?"

It was Simmons' turn to groan and pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Just when I thought we might be done working overtime hours."

Tony shrugged. "This shouldn't require any. We've been kicking around the idea of announcing his presence here and his recovery from the trauma of what happened, so that we can add him to the charter signatories if that's what he wants."

Running a hand through his hair and looking relieved, Simmons nodded. "That should be as simple as putting out a press release right before your Wakandan shows up and making sure he's legally as clean as we can make him. If you want me on that, I'll need access to whatever information you have on his past -- especially his captivity -- and a few days of vacation time."

"The vacation time is easy," Tony agreed immediately. "Take a weekend in the Bahamas or something. The information... is a little bit harder. Most of what exists is neither court admissible, nor easy reading. If you can build a case for him without it, I'd really recommend not reading it, in fact. It'll give you nightmares. I'm not kidding."

"That's putting it lightly," James muttered, staring at his toes.

Tony could see the moment Simmons made his decision. "First things first. I'm taking that weekend. Once I'm back, we'll deal with the issue of the documentation and how to handle the press."

"That seems reasonable to me," Peggy spoke up. "In the meantime, James needs to make a few decisions and the four of us need to talk about the consequences thereof."

Taking that as a dismissal -- and Tony had to admit it kind of was -- Simmons turned and made his way back into the elevator, the UN Security Council's reply tucked under his arm. "Then we'll talk once you've made those decisions."


	6. Chapter 6

"They want what?" Steve sounded outraged. "Are you kidding me? You said your plan should work!"

Tony groaned. "Calm the fuck down, would you? Yes, I said it should work, and it did. Now, we have the option of letting this neutral party come live with the team or accepting Ross' brand of oversight. I know which one I'd prefer."

The comment got a frustrated sound out of Steve.

Peggy put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. It'd been a few hours since Simmons had come by, and she'd left the Tower almost immediately afterward, knowing that she'd need to be there personally to keep Steve from making all his usual interpersonal mistakes. "Steve," she said in her most reasonable tone of voice, "we already know dealing with Ross as the team's commanding officer would be a disaster. We can work around an observer."

"They want to have a spy in our ranks to report back on whether we're actually stickin' to our side of the deal," Bucky put in. "Since we weren't plannin' on breakin' that promise, it's no skin off our noses t' host this guy, an' you know it."

Sam, somewhere offscreen, called, "I don't like the idea much, either, Cap'n, but it's not as unreasonable as you're making it sound."

Heaving an aggravated sigh, Steve muttered, "He'd better be as good at his job as people seem to think he is."

James snorted. "He'd have to be, to deal with the likes of you."

"Hey!" Steve drew himself up, stung.

"Boys, boys," Peggy interceded, "stop bickering. We've got plenty of other things to worry about."

Well, that was certainly true. Tony nodded. "We're going to announce James' presence and partial rehabilitation just before that Wakandan Prince gets to the Tower," he announced. "The Security Council didn't give us a strict deadline for when he'd have to be in place, but we can't waste too much time either, so both will probably be happening within the week."

Steve looked stunned. "That's going to be even more of a media nightmare than your stunt with the termination clauses," he muttered. "Damn it."

"Probably," Tony agreed, "but there's nothing we can do about that."

"Have you talked to Professor Xavier?" Steve demanded, predictable as always where it came to his bestie.

Bucky nodded. "He's promised to stop by sometime this afternoon, since he'll be in the City anyway for somethin' or other."

"Good," Peggy said firmly, with a smile and approval in her voice. "Then we'll let you go off to prepare for that. Steve and I have plans of our own, anyway, don't we, darling?"

"I-- we do?" Steve turned to her with a surprised look on his face, and then Peggy reached over to cut the call.

Bucky snorted. "Dumbass still ain't learned a damned thing about women," he said with a smirk.

James nodded. "Probably never will."

"It's a damned good thing she likes him anyway," Tony agreed, then eyed James. "I know you said it was okay, but are you really ready for this? Xavier is the best and he won't hurt you, but it's not easy to let someone see all of you like that."

James shuddered. "It-- I don't know? I think so, but until I try..."

Tony decided it was just as well they'd decided to have the call with Steve from the shop. Bucky and James settled themselves on the sofa against the far wall next to the kitchenette, and Tony did what he could to distract himself by flinging himself into working on the newest upgrades to Stark Industries' cell phone line.

The time passed quietly, and almost before Tony knew it, Xavier had shown up with the Wolverine in tow. It had been all of about 24 hours since James had decided to give Xavier a chance to help, and now Tony and Bucky were accompanying James up to the common floor to meet them.

When he caught sight of Wolverine, Bucky's eyes narrowed. "Where do I know you from?" He demanded, walking boldly up to the intimidating mutant as Tony watched, fascinated.

"How would I know?" Wolverine said with a growl. "My memory ain't what it used to be, bub."

That somehow made Bucky's eyes go wide in surprised recognition. "Jesus. Howlett? What the hell happened to you?"

Xavier decided that was the moment to intercede, and based on what little Tony knew about the Wolverine's history, that was probably for the best.

"I believe that is a story that can wait for another day," the professor interjected smoothly. "It is not a cheerful one. And nor is your friend's, I'd wager."

James shrugged and agreed. "That's putting it pretty lightly."

"Professor Xavier is a master of understatement," Tony joked, stepping forward to offer Charles his hand. "It's good to see you again, Charles."

"Under better circumstances?" Xavier voiced the unspoken end of his sentence, making Tony scoff. 

"Well, obviously," Tony said as he wrapped an arm around Bucky's waist, getting Bucky to relax into his hold with a barely-hidden smile tugging at his lips, and watched Wolverine's eyebrow climb in mild disbelief at how open they were about the relationship his nose had surely already picked up. "You've heard about my boyfriend from the tabloids, I'm sure. This is Bucky. That one is James, and the object of today's strategic considerations."

"A pleasure to meet you both, I'm sure," Charles said but didn't acknowledge their open display of affection, either. "And what considerations would those be? You requested my assistance, but your note was quite vague."

"Well, Charles," Tony replied, "the vagueness of the request was quite deliberate, as I'm sure you've guessed by now. We'd like to publicly announce James' presence here and need an impartial third party to evaluate his recovery."

"For show, primarily," Charles riposted, a smile of his own appearing. "Your beau's other self seems to have recovered quite well already, even without any of my assistance in the matter."

"Well, sure," Bucky put in, "we know that, an' you know that, but no one else does."

Wolverine grumbled something impolite about politics under his breath that Charles ignored. "I see," the telepath said slowly. "That explains why no one has so much as breathed a word about him in the press."

Peggy strode briskly into the room, then, getting everyone's attention instantly. "Forgive my tardiness, please," she said, "I was delayed on the road."

"And who might you be?" Charles inquired, turning to her with a charming smile. "I'm certain I would remember you."

Tony laughed. "You do, Charles. This is the infamous Ms. Peggy Carter."

"Oh, dear me." Charles openly stared at her for a beat. "I'd imagined you might be a relative of hers," he told Peggy as she allowed him to kiss her knuckles.

Shaking his head, Wolverine turned to the bar. "I need a drink."

Peggy watched him, her eyes taking in every nuance, then turned back to Charles. "Well, in a sense I suppose that's true," she agreed, offering him a polite smile. "But how Bucky and I wound up here is hardly common knowledge, and we should very much prefer it stay that way."

Charles turned back to Tony. "Clearly, it has been far too long since we made the time to take coffee together, my friend," he commented. "You seem to have had a number of misadventures that would be fascinating to hear about."

"You know me, Charles," Tony replied, feeling the smirk tugging at his own lips. "I insist on quid pro quo when it comes to top secret information."

James huffed at him. "You do know that 'top secret' means you can't just tell our stories freely, right, Tony?"

"Rest assured," Charles interjected, "that information would go no farther. You're familiar with the idea of doctor-patient confidentiality, yes?"

James nodded. "In passing."

Tony and Peggy winced, because _ouch_.

Without missing a beat, though he'd surely picked up on the sudden tension in the room, Charles simply nodded and went on. "That rule applies to any and everyone that speaks to me, regardless of topic, when no other witnesses are present. Were my reputation of total discretion to ever come into question, that could easily spell disaster for everyone currently under my protection."

James watched him carefully for another few long seconds, evaluating, then nodded. "Sounds a lot like what Tony's been doing for me."

"It is," Charles agreed. "Now, in more concrete terms, what, precisely, is your plan regarding this young man, Tony?"

Shoving any thought of potential threesomes out of his mind, Tony laid out what they'd discussed so far. "You've probably heard about the scuffle we recently had with Secretary Ross," he opened, and got a nod. "Well, once we got him to back off a little we submitted a proposal to the UN Security Council for a new Avengers Charter and independence from SHIELD in the form of turning the team into part of the UN Peacekeeping forces[3]. Their acceptance is contingent on the team having a live-in observer. Since we'd much rather have UN oversight than Ross', we've decided we can live with that... but that means we have to come clean about James' presence here before the observer moves into the Tower."

Charles looked a bit stunned. "Ah. The situation is rather more complex than I had expected, then, I must admit."

"You ain't heard nothin' yet," Bucky said with a sigh. "If you're gonna help us out, you'll get all the gory details from James."

James flinched ever so slightly, then muttered, "I wouldn't blame you if you decided not to help us, on that basis alone."

Wolverine rolled his eyes. "Xavier's no wiltin' flower," he said, and helped himself to another beer -- Tony realised he'd never seen the man finish the first -- before he turned back to their little group and leaned back against the bar.

Tony had to concede the point. "So, Charles, are you in?"

"If you'll forward me copies of your new charter and the appeal you submitted to the UN so that we might possibly adapt them to our own uses," Charles answered, "then I'd be in your debt, but I will assist you even without that incentive."

Peggy stepped over to put a hand on James' good shoulder. "We appreciate it, Professor. James has been working hard on his recovery, and we should like it to continue uninterrupted."

Once Charles had agreed to help them out, he'd had James take him to a room James felt comfortable in, and neither of them had emerged for the better part of three hours. Wolverine had taken their departure as his cue to take up residence in the media room and sprawl out on the sofa as he watched some garbage reality TV show that Tony didn't recognise.

After the first hour, FRIDAY had had two meals delivered to the room they were sequestered in, but neither of them had emerged.

By the end of the second hour, Tony had been about ready to climb the walls. Bucky, all 'round wonderful boyfriend that he was, had had FRIDAY order some food for the two of them and Peggy. And Wolverine, too, once FRIDAY had let them know that the mutant hadn't bothered to leave the common floor media room. Peggy had joined them for their meal. Wolverine had not.

At the end of the third hour, James and Charles finally reappeared on the common floor, both of them looking somewhat wan and tired.

Peggy stood and strode over to pull James into a hug. "Are you okay?"

"More or less," James answered, his arms going around her in turn, accepting the comfort she offered. James had only recently begun to allow himself that, and Tony was glad to see that Charles' presence wasn't making him repress hard enough to deny himself that touch and the care it signified.

"Somethin' tells me it's less, right now," Bucky put in.

Tony stood and crossed the open foyer of the common floor to offer Charles the folio FRIDAY had prepared, with the required documents inside. "Do me a favour, and destroy these as soon as you've gotten what you need out of them," he requested. "I know you've got only the purest of intentions, but there are plenty of people out there who don't."

Charles smiled, a bit ruefully. "Your concerns are sadly not unfounded," he conceded the point as he accepted the folio. "Where is Wolverine?"

The man in question seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Right here, Professor. We good to go home?"

"I believe so," Charles said, then turned to Tony. "Let me know when and where you would like to have James make his debut. You were entirely correct when you said his history was filled with pain, but that makes it all the more important that he should have someone to vouch for him, in light of what he will face in order to leave the shadows."

"Hidin' in the shadows might be easier in the short term," Bucky muttered, "but I'm pretty sure you an' Tony have the right of it."

James took a steadying breath, then squared his shoulders. "I'm as ready now as I'm ever going to get," he told Tony. "Might as well get it over with."

Accepting that, Tony tried to sketch out a plan. "Today's what? Tuesday? We can do the press release tomorrow morning, and the press conference... Hm. Friday work for you, Charles?"

"Certainly. I will keep my calendar as clear as I can," Xavier said, then reached out and patted James' good hand. "Take the afternoon to yourself," he suggested. "Rest, recover, and prepare yourself to run the media gauntlet."

James swallowed, and nodded.

And then, without another word, the pair of mutants was gone, disappearing into the elevator and going back to their lives.

Bucky eyed the closed elevator doors for a few seconds. "How'n the hell did you meet those guys, Tony?"

"Long story," Tony answered, thinking back and trying not to sigh. "Here's the short version: a few years before Afghanistan, the military approached me about creating some kind of weapon that would allow them to disrupt mutants' powers. Needless to say, the X-Men didn't like that idea, and put up enough of a fuss that I had to meet with them to discuss some kind of conflict resolution."

"And? Did you make the weapons?" Peggy asked.

"We didn't, in the end. Xavier managed to make enough of a scene in front of Congress to convince them it wasn't worth the bad PR to go forward with the project," Tony replied, wanting to kick his past self as he watched James' expression smooth out to hide the anger rising in him. Tony cleared his throat and went on. "I'm pretty sure someone else got the contract, in secret, and worked on it, in secret, but since there was never so much as a rumour that it was ever deployed I'm pretty sure they never got beyond the prototype stage. Assuming it even got that far."

"Good," Bucky muttered. "That sounds like the worst kind of unethical."

"It is," Tony agreed, "but I didn't see it then."

"You're not that man anymore," Peggy put in quietly but firmly. "The man I've come to know would never so much as give that a moment's consideration."

While he couldn't deny that much was true, Tony also knew he'd fucked up in other ways instead where it came to the team and Ultron, and that he would continue to. When all was said and done, he was a weapons engineer. He'd made a living making things that very efficiently blew stuff -- and people -- up for decades, like his father before him.

And then continued to do so, albeit on a smaller scale, as Iron Man.

"Tony," Bucky broke him out of his thoughts, "I know that look on your face. Stop it."

Peggy made an amused sound. "He's right. We have other things to worry about. There's a press release to hammer out and you need to talk to your Mrs. Arbogast about the press conference you brought up."

"Ye ought to keep Ms. Potts in the loop, too," FRIDAY put in, no doubt speaking up because she was certain enough that it would be helpful in some way or other. She hadn't yet learned how to deal with emotions and the physiological responses they could cause like JARVIS had, Tony thought, and felt a pang go through him. That might come, in time.

God, but he missed JARVIS.

Bucky prodded at him, right over his ribs, making him squirm, and said, "Why don't ya send her a note for us, FRIDAY? Don't wanna interrupt, if she's in a meeting or somethin'."

"Will do, Sarge," she acknowledged the request cheerfully, and a moment later, a few lines of text appeared on a holo-interface in front of Tony.

He scanned them -- a summary of what had transpired and a note regarding Charles' agreement and their rough timeline -- then accepted it and hit send.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_peacekeeping


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, as planned, the press release went out -- penned by Mrs. Arbogast more or less on the spot when she'd found out that James had given the go-ahead -- and the internet broke. Twitter's servers actually crashed briefly, and Tumblr's code creaked so badly under the strain that the whole website was unavailable for most of the day. The stock market decided it would crash, and then soar to heights that it probably wouldn't be able to sustain, carried along by SI's numbers, which more or less went through the roof. And the press dug up every bit of dirt they possibly could get their hands on about Tony and James alike.

There was a lot, too. James was easy to get all manner of dirt on thanks to the SHIELD info leak Steve and Natasha had perpetrated, and Tony thanks to his pre-Iron Man exploits. Fox News in particular foamed at the mouth, spouting an avalanche of lies and slander, ranging from halfway based in reality to fiction so pure it might as well have been made of unicorns and cotton candy.

And then there were the tabloids.

Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick, the tabloids.

Tony eyed his Twitter feed in disgust, scowling at it while Bucky cuddled him and snickered at the utter absurdity of the posts that were coming up.

"You know," James pointed out, lounging on the sofa placed opposite the loveseat Bucky and Tony were tangled together on, "if you hadn't insisted that we release a photo, this wouldn't have happened."

"I didn't insist," Tony muttered. "Bambi did."

Bucky pressed a kiss into his hair near his temple, then spoke up. "She did, an' she had good reasons for it. We knew that our looks would cause a media fire, James. Just be glad Mrs. Arbogast crammed you into the barber's chair first, or it would'a been even worse."

"I'm not sure this is any better," Tony muttered, eyeing the latest tabloid headline. "The first few were just '_Stark's cheating on his boyfriend with an identical twin_' or '_Stark has kinky threesome_' which, you know, is almost realistic given some of the things I've done. But now they're just devolving into nonsense. '_Stark suppresses news of alien body snatcher invasion_'? Really? And they think putting pictures of you two side by side is proof? What the fuck? And no one's even bothered to notice that I built James that new arm, either. I'm almost insulted."

James snorted. "When's the last time that a gossip column made sense?" He parried. "I'd rather they didn't know the truth."

"Even if they did, they'd make somethin' up," Bucky replied with a shrug. "Their goal is ta sell papers, not be useful to the public."

Tony huffed at both of them and kept scrolling through his feed, occasionally retweeting some of the more supportive messages and the official announcement regarding the press conference.

About ten minutes later, Peggy strolled into the room accompanied by Rhodey and Carol, several large bags of take-out in their hands. "If I know you three, none of you has eaten since breakfast," she commented, "so I ordered some Thai."

The bags landed on the coffee table in front of James, who grabbed for the closest one and started handing out cartons. "I knew I liked you for a reason," he said as he followed the cartons up with sets of chopsticks.

Peggy gave him a sardonic look. "If the reason you like me, James, is that I keep you fed, that likely means your standards are quite low," she teased him gently.

"You like Steve because he's stubborn and good in bed," Bucky pointed out, making Tony sputter and choke on his bite of spring roll as he tried to eat and laugh at the same time.

Carol raised an eyebrow, and cleared her throat pointedly. "I like all of you, but keep that information to yourselves, hm?"

Rhodey sighed. "That's a battle you won't win, Carol," he grumbled, opening his portion of food and starting to eat. "Tony's always been prone to oversharing, and his new roommates are following his lead."

Laughing herself, Peggy shook her head. "It goes far deeper than that, Bucky, but you're not wrong," she said. "And don't even try to convince me that's not why you like Tony."

"So what you're saying is that all three of you have low standards," Tony concluded. "Stubbornness, good sex, and good food? That's not a high bar."

"Tony, if you think we got low standards, I don't know who you've been livin' with for the past nine months or so," Bucky grumbled at him, and Peggy nodded, throwing her support behind him. "You got no idea what you're talkin' about."

Rhodey didn't bother to look up from his meal as he put in, "You think that's bad, Barnes, you ain't seen nothin' yet."

"Eat, Tony," James commanded and pointed at him with his chopsticks, before going back to inhaling his own food. "Rhodes, we're well aware of his complete inability to see himself as worthy."

That wasn't, strictly speaking, a denial of the low standards comment on James' part, and Tony wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Especially since it was a bit embarrassing to be psychoanalysed while he was still in the room. Brazening it out as he always did, he gave James a sardonic look. "Ridiculous. Now, eat your food so that I can fulfill your low standards."

Carol shrugged and exchanged a look with the others gathered in the room, but then she thankfully changed the topic. "Anyway, Tony, what's this I hear about you starting a poly relationship?"

Rhodey choked on his next bite of food, and hissed, "Carol! We agreed we'd grill them about that later!"

Peggy laughed outright, and so did James after a beat. Bucky grinned at Carol unrepentantly and cuddled Tony close before he replied, "I thought ya knew better'n ta believe the gossip rags, Danvers."

"I thought you knew how interrogations worked, Barnes," she shot back, with a smirk of her own. "Outrageous statements make a good starting point."

The tension melted away again and the rest of the meal went by, interrupted only by occasional bursts of small talk and requests for one sauce or the other. After the ridiculousness on the internet, the feeling of calm was nice, even if he did know that the three of them would have to answer to his old friends once the table had been cleared.

Once they'd cleaned up most of the debris and stacked the food cartons on one end of the table, Rhodey leaned casually back in his chair. "So, spill. What's going on? The media is spinning all kinds of crazy theories about you three."

Tony snorted. "Nothing's going on. Remember '94?"

"That thing with what's-her-name and her boyfriend?" Rhodey made a face.

"Huh? What?" Bucky asked, having clearly sensed a juicy story and wanting to know more. "What happened in '94?"

With a groan, Tony gave in. "I briefly dated Janet Van Dyne, and the tabloids decided that her ex-boyfriend was in bed with us both for no reason. Our fling lasted all of, fuck, I don't remember, a week? And then she was right back with her ex, but the media refused to let go of that theory for literal months, even though there was literally zero proof."

Carol sniffed. "Figures."

Rhodey eyed him carefully, and Tony straightened. "You don't believe me, Platypus?"

"I know you too well to take everything you say at face value, and I've seen the tension between you three," his best friend said slowly. "But I know just how true the stories published by the sensationalist media are. Just because they get it right once in a while doesn't make them any more reliable."

Peggy nodded. "The tabloids may be closer to the mark than they think, as you say, Rhodes, but our three friends need to figure these things out for themselves."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "All'a ya are talkin' like it's just a matter of time," he muttered.

Tony briefly wondered whether FRIDAY had been telling tales to his close friends. Rhodey and Carol definitely seemed to be better informed than they had any right to be based on the relative lack of communication between them, lately.

James stood and stretched, grabbing Tony's attention with the way he moved, all grace and flexing muscle. Picking up the stack of cartons to dispose of them in the trash, he tossed over his shoulder, "For the record, Tony, I wouldn't mind if you wanted that threesome."

Tony stared after James, floored, as the man sauntered out of the room with the smug air of someone who'd very successfully gotten the drop on his opponent and knew he would get exactly what he wanted out of them. The thought that James had come barreling into their lives because of the tabloids in the first place came to mind unbidden. It was weirdly symmetrical that they'd all wind up as lovers, too, because of the tabloids.

It took a few seconds, but then Carol burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Tony, the look on your face."

Peggy simply leaned back in her seat and watched them with an indulgent smile on her face, as though she was watching a wonderful television drama. "You know," she put in, "you might consider saying yes."

Tony could only give her a helpless look. This whole thing was kind of surreal. Sure, they'd been inching towards this end result, and hinting and flirting, but he'd never expected it to actually _happen_.

"He might consider it, but I'm not sure he'll follow through without a little push," Rhodey commented, then leaned over and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, looking far smugger than he had any right to. As though he'd orchestrated the whole thing, Tony thought sourly. 

Bucky answered for both of them, when the silence drew out a little. "We've gotta talk that over a bit, first. First the two of us, and then with James. Maybe then we'll say yes. Maybe."

James reappeared in the doorway and raised an eyebrow at him. "Talk quickly," he demanded, then gave Bucky a wink and a smirk and left, silent as a wraith.

"You three are great fun to watch," Peggy said, laughing. "We'll leave you to it. Talk things over, and then say yes."

"You say that like it's already been decided," Bucky replied, sounding a bit put out.

Peggy smiled and didn't bother to answer that particular dig, standing up to leave and taking Carol and Rhodey with her again as she left. "Good night, boys."

They were stuck in the worst kind of turbulent airflow, right now, caught between the media chaos over James' presence in the Tower that would rage for at least the next two weeks, and the lingering debates over the spat between Stark Industries and Secretary Ross, and then there was the tension that Crown Prince T'Challa's arrival would add to the mix... but Tony found he didn't mind the thought of complicating things even more by inviting James into bed.

Tony sighed, and eyed the doorway through which James and Peggy had made their respective dramatic exits. "Guess we'd better talk, or they'll find a way to make us," he grumbled.

"You might be right," Bucky said, and nodded. "But first, I want to get my hands on you good an' proper."

Tony couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his lips at the thought. "Is that what you went and bought the maple syrup for?"

"That's for me to know an' you ta find out," his boyfriend taunted him with a wink, then stood and smirked right back at him with a smouldering look in his blue-grey eyes. Offering a hand, he suggested, "C'mon. What I have in mind requires a bed, and possibly a shower."


End file.
